By Ann Sullivan
I was on a call recently with fellow business leaders and one of them articulated what I have been thinking. Is there any end in sight? Meaning COVID-19, meaning nasty politics and gridlock on important issues, meaning decreased revenues and meaning people in a pretty bad mood. If you are a business owner, you have dreams of simply walking away saying “I quit.” But you can’t—here are five reasons why.
1. You have invested too much into the business to walk away. As satisfying as walking away sounds, why would you throw away all that time and effort that it takes to build a business. More than 50% of businesses fail in the first year. If you made it past that mark, you overcame a big hurdle – the odds are with you.
2. You like being your own boss. In a study by Guidant Financial, 55% of respondents said being their own boss was their biggest motivation for owning their business. Business owners don’t necessarily excel in playing corporate politics – they live with the consequences of their own decisions. Plus, being your own boss has the potential for greater income than working for someone else.
3. You’re in good company. Depending on what survey you choose, nearly 1/3 of all small businesses in the US are non-operational due to COVID. If you are in business, you’ve beat the odds, so chances are you’ll climb out of this.
4. You have been given an unusual chance to reposition and get creative. This opportunity doesn’t happen very often but COVID-19 forced us to think about pursuing new business lines and add new capabilities. Not that we wanted to do this – life was pretty good when the revenues were strong, but every business needs a refresh at some point. 2020 just gave us the kick in the pants we probably needed.
5. You can’t fix the political world. Having been in the political arena for a long time, I remember when politicians were much more collegial. Even though you can’t fix the political divide, what you can do is vote, volunteer, contribute to candidates that share your views and work for a better future for you and your employees.
